Constitutional Revolutions of Iran and Turkey in the 19th Century

The Young Turk and Iranian Constitutional Revolutions occurred during a period of transformation. Transformation not only from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries, but also a transformation of society. For the Ottomans, the nineteenth century was the age of the European empires, many of whom influenced and manipulated the society. The result would be a Middle Eastern country emulating European society. This influence was not evident in Iran and those who held power would dictate the course of reform. The Young Turk Constitutional Revolution was the result of Tanzimat and "western" ideologies, imbedded in the cultural and social fabric of society, as opposed to the Iranian Constitutional Revolutions, which occurred as a result of individual and powerful groups with much to gain from a revolution. The Tanzimat ideology, although absent from the mentality of the Sultan, was inscribed in the political, social, and cultural aspect of Ottoman Empire, resulting in a movement to reinstate many of the reforms back into society.
The era of the Tanzimat spanned a period of 37 years (1829-1876) and was marked with a long series of reforms aimed at "westernizing" the society. …